


Connect

by oceankasko (Kaskodiona)



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - MMORPG, Alternate Universe - No Magic, F/F, Fluff, Humor, bit of Hurt/Comfort maybe, introduced on Dianakko Week 2017, mmorpg au, the whole cast tm will be here soon, this fic is gonna be all over the place but they will gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-04 06:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12163671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaskodiona/pseuds/oceankasko
Summary: She never thought she would find something, or someone, or a whole bunch of people actually, more comforting than the hum of her computer, or the sight of progress bars filling up again. (Or, Diana is a shut in and doesn't know how to deal with feelings AU).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> haven't written a fic in a loooong time, and this is my first time using ao3, so if something goes wrong, woops :^) i've had this idea for a bit but im introducing it for dianakko week 2017!! (day 6 - au specifically)

Her eyes trailed the download bar present on the launcher, and then shifted over to her left hand as she flipped through her neat notes. Diana allowed herself to release a sigh as her eyes stick to the green bar once again, cursing her mediocre internet speed. She didn’t have time for this, she was already well prepared and knew everything that the playerbase has found out about the game up until this point.

 

She decided to get up and get some breakfast. She winced as a stream of light hit her face; she reached out and fixed the offending flipped-up blind, then headed to the kitchen.

 

As she descended down the carpeted stairs, she pulled out her phone, checking her notifications. She was greeted by the cold, empty glare of her phone’s basic wall paper. She didn’t know what to expect, really. It was more of a mindless habit to keep her hands occupied rather than anything else. She hasn’t talked with them ever since she quit that game anyways.

 

Realising she was in front of the kitchen door, Diana put her phone back into her pant pocket and pushed down on the cold handle. Stepping in, she remembered she didn’t have much food left in the house and made a mental note to go out for groceries later. Later… tomorrow morning, maybe.

 

She took a still slightly green banana from the fruit bowl; the only way it should be. On her way out, she guessed she could treat herself once in a while, and took a cold litre bottle of bright green liquid that she bought as a joke (for herself, it was pathetic, really) about two weeks ago.

 

“If I’m a shut-in, might as well live up to the expectation.” She muttered.

 

As she sat back into her chair and began peeling her banana, she glanced at the game launcher for the umpteenth time. After a few moments of staring, she realises that the game has actually finished patching. She shifted her position and straightened her back up, plopping her headphones on hastily and clicking the inviting orange ‘Play’ button on the cool dark blue background, banana left neatly in its skin on her mahogany desk.

 

 _Finally,_ she muses. _I finally can play this game._

 

With a smile, she watches the game boot up as her computer’s fans give a slight growl, which she felt compelled to growl back to, but she decided not to.

 

Diana entered her email ( _Why can’t it just be the username?_ ) and password, and is asked to make up a pin code.

 

She smirked as she entered the number 69 three times is succession, before she snorted at her immaturity, and progressed into character selection.

 

As the class and race screen pops up, she is pleasantly surprised. So many options for hair, face shape, eyes and body shapes were presented to her; she has heard of a rich character creator, but didn’t expect this. Also, the girls seem to actually have armour in this game. She smiles as she thinks that things might be progressing.

 

After a few minutes of careful selection, she was quite proud of her work - a tall yet not lanky female elf, with flowing blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a confident but modest expression. She chose the cleric class, as a healer fit her liking the best, and was presented with the look of one of the endgame robes. Her eyes widened as she realised.

 

“Now this speaks power.” she mused to herself.

 

Finalising her choice, she typed in ‘Cavendish’ into the name selection box, satisfied that her signature name (and actual surname) wasn’t taken by any other player yet.

 

The game took a moment to load back into the character selection screen, and she eagerly clicked the start button, the action taking her back to some time ago when she did this for the first time in another game. She loved this, she really did, although her… predicament didn’t allow her to properly indulge until the school year finally settled.

 

Diana felt some sort of relief or happiness, some weird combination of the two, rush over her as she finally entered the game world, textures still patchy in the places they haven’t loaded yet, and other players’ sprites blank as she still received information from the game server/

She once again felt a sense of awe at being greeted in a new world, and the itching to get the tutorial done so she could explore the vast lands she’s heard so much of, participate in challenging dungeons, and take care of raid parties again.

 

But first, the tutorial.

 

She’s been through this before - here’s how you move, how you attack, how to pick up stuff, basic combo mechanics. Most people would know this stuff already, and although she stacked up on notes on the deeper mechanics of the game, she would’ve appreciated it if the creators had explained like crafting & upgrading, instance loot systems, managing aggro, and the like. Maybe those would be introduced at a later stage, perhaps?

 

Diana moved her elf through the woods, progressing through the quests, with little tidbits of story being picked up. She’s heard that the questing system in the game was well built with interesting activities other than “kill 20 mobs, talk to an npc, rinse, repeat”, which was refreshing. Even though she herself was more of a grinding and farming type of player.

 

She found herself enjoying the tutorial despite her previous opinion on it, but as she reached its end, where she was about to fight against her first boss, she found something that confused her.

 

Another player character running along the roofs of the buildings of the town she was currently in. She wouldnt’ve been struck if it wasn’t for the very lategame armour the other player was wearing, and the Magnificent Blazing Dragon mount, which was rewarded only to players who played since the closed beta.

 

In her confusion, she clicked on the other character and inspected their profile - player tag ‘akko’, a level 181 Summoner. Definitely in the top 50 players. She didn’t know whether to be humbled she was in the presence of one of the most revered players in the community, or angry that someone was wasting their time, while they could be putting it to much better use. In her reverie, she didn’t notice as the other player stopped moving.

 

She was about to leave for the next area, but she was interrupted by the chime of getting a message. There was a flashing envelope at the right side of her screen, clicking it revealed a new window, with it showing:

 

[181 Summ.] akko: your name is very cool!! i like a lot!!! you and me sholud be friends!!!!! :)

 

She leaned back in her chair, at which she realised she was slouching, and quickly corrected herself. Diana ran a hand through her hair, before sighing and moving her hand back to the keyboard. She had no idea what to reply. She didn’t know anything about the other… girl? She presumed from the avatar, although she had no way of knowing from what she’s seen as catfishes and gender-locked classes. She mulled over it, weighing the pros and cons. _They are a pretty high level player, although it is weird to see them slacking off like this, especially when the huge weekend raid is coming up. Are they not participating? It could be good to get some help at the beginning though and make some allies, seeing as I am playing a support class._

 

While her head was swirling with thoughts, she got three more messages:

 

[181 Summ.] akko: i like it* should*

 

[181 Summ.] akko: hello????

 

[181 Summ.] akko: oops, i need to go eat dinner, but if you need anything, pm me!!!! :D

 

As she realised the other played has logged off, she was struck by two thoughts. The first being, this person must be either very desperate to meet new people or be overly friendly, which led her to believe that it was just a guy hitting on her, feeling safe behind the disguise of a female character, yet she dismissed that thought, hoping that wasn’t true. The second being a sudden flare of panic, as she turned her eyes the in-game clock that displayed her local time, but confusion hit her once again as it was only 11 am.

 

 _Must be from a different country then,_ Diana thought. She heard that there was only one game server, with no statement on any future support players with languages other than English. _Asia has always had a high interest in MMORPGs, so I guess if they wanted to play this one, they’d do it anyway they can._

 

She sighed one more time this morning, letting herself calm down after the ordeal. She thought she should just move on and get the tutorial finished, although while she approached the end, she couldn’t help but think back to the akko player. Everything about them was confusing her, and she didn’t like that. She liked her information clear-cut and certain, so she decided - she would chase them down, and find out what she could.

 

Diana continued with the last bit of the tutorial - the boss. Since she had played countless MMORPGs before, she knew what to expect - to give the newcomers a challenge, while giving them a chance to get a feel for managing skill cooldowns, dodging boss attacks, self healing and nuking. That is, if the boss was well designed.

 

She moved her character towards the boss area and skipped the cutscene that played out - she wasn’t too invested in the story, and just wanted to progress. The boss was quite menacing - some sort of huge, spiked reptile that could scale walls, it’s scales as dark as the night, almost sucking all light in. She had to admit, the game’s artstyle was really good - not super realistic, even almost cartoonish, with great colour schemes and a sense of fluid movement.

 

Once the boss slithered down to her, she began attacking it, but staying wary for hints of it about to strike, or the indicators that it would use an ability in a certain area. She expertly dodged all of its attacks, and chipped away at the health bar. Even though she was a supporting character, she felt strong and almost impossible to catch with her great dodging mechanics. Not too long later, the boss was defeated, purple smoke and a shrill echoing scream being all remaining of it.

 

Diana commended herself on not losing any hp during that fight and picked up the common loot - some rings and earrings for health points. _Not too bad, might as well equip them._

 

She was teleported back to the town where she met the other player, and she didn’t know what she was expecting, but felt a bit disappointed when she didn’t find them there. Just a tiny bit. After all, they were a high level - she could find a guild or just a raid squad with their help.

 

She abandoned the thought and pressed forward, to go to the mainland and out of the tutorial island. She boarded the ship to go to the next city and couldn’t help but realise this is how many MMORPGs went - start out on a tutorial island separated from the main game continent, then use some sort of transportation to depart. She allowed herself to fall back into her thoughts as her character rested on the ship, waiting out the three minutes the voyage would take.

 

Players were allowed to go back to the tutorial island, but there was really no point in doing so - no higher level content or quests, no valuable items, not even an achievement for returning. Therefore, the akko player must have just wanted to be there at that moment. Why, though? Sentimental value, perhaps? It was their decision if they wanted to do so, but it just didn’t click with Diana. She was used to dedicating a certain amount of time to each of the game’s progression stages, so that she could get to the part she both enjoyed and despised the most - organised raids. On one hand, they were usually rewarding and felt good to execute well, on the other, usually, it was hard to execute them well, making going with inexperienced people a waste of time and resources.

 

 _They have to get their experience from somewhere, I guess,_ Diana reasoned. _But that’s not really any of my concern._

 

As she reached the next town, a small seaside village full of wooden houses surrounded by a stone wall, with a hill overlooking a rocky cliff, she picked up her first story quest from the town’s what seemed to be mayor. She put on the new equipment she got from completing the tutorial, and just as she set her character to leave the safety of the town walls, she got a message.

 

She felt her heart drop to her stomach for a split second - why did it do that? She opened up the chat window and let out a shaky breath - why was she suddenly so scared? This made no sense, but instead of dwelling on the thought, she read the message she received, and quickly realised she never left the akko player a message back before.

 

[181 Summ.] akko: i guess this might be a bit annoying but hey im back!! no need to be shy, wonk~ ;)

 

[181 Summ.] akko: wink*

 

Diana chuckled at that spelling mistake - it was so silly, yet it seemed to fit so well. She decided she would entertain the other player, as they seemed to be at least a bit aware of their persistent nature.

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: Wonk.

 

[181 Summ.] akko: omg you replied :0!

 

[181 Summ.] akko: wait, no don’t destroy me like that!! it was a typo! :(((

 

This player certainly was playful, and had an easygoing nature about them. No need to be wary and might as well just enjoy socialising.

 

...Which was something Diana from this morning would have frowned upon, but she told herself she’s had a bit of a change of heart.

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: Oh but it sounds great, don’t worry.

 

[181 Summ.] akko: i’ll have you know i’m one of the best spellers in my class!!!! >(

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: Sure. How was your dinner?

 

She decided to throw out some small talk, as in all actuality, she didn’t have much of an idea on how to make conversation other than making sure her reputation wasn’t undermined, which she realised wasn’t very useful anyways when she was probably a newbie in the eyes of the other player.

[181 Summ.] akko: you better believe it! and it was so good, we had karaage

 

[181 Summ.] akko: wait

 

[181 Summ.] akko: fried chicken

 

At the sight of the foreign word, she hastily returned to her desktop and turned on her browser, once again hearing her computer’s fans speeding up as she put further strain on it. She was slightly frustrated as the browser took a long time to turn on and an even longer time to look up the word on google - _My internet isn’t that bad, why is this so slow,_ \- but she was pleasantly surprised when she found out that was the word for Japanese fried chicken.

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: So you’re from Japan?

 

[181 Summ.] akko: yup! you know karaage? it’s so good right?

 

 _No, I just really wanted to know where you’re from for some reason,_ Diana thought, and then realised how creepy that sounded. _Never telling them that._

 

She decided now wasn’t really a good time to lie, if she wanted to make a good impression on one of the top players.

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: No, I’ve never had it.

 

[181 Summ.] akko: awhh, well

 

[181 Summ.] akko: if you ever have the chance to do so, please do!! :>

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: Alright, must be really good.

 

Diana calmed down a bit when she realised that the other player hadn’t realised her little act of research, even if she’s done nothing wrong. It just felt so private for some reason, especially since she’s exchanged only like what, 10 messages with this person?

 

As she was calming, her rational thoughts started coming back to her head, which seemed to fly out the window when it came to talking to the other person. That bothered her, but she paid more attention to the thoughts that were coming back to her - leveling up. She had a good plan drawn out, but she was falling a bit behind since she was getting… distracted. There was something comforting about banter and exchanging information with another person though, even if it was really small amounts and they only spoke for a maximum of ten minutes and did Diana sound very pathetic right now.

 

[181 Summ.] akko: yes it is!!! where are you from?

 

Diana figured this could be a way to leave without seeming too rude, but also a way to get them to talk again. Why she wanted that, she didn’t know why, but it wouldn’t hurt to try to make useful contacts, right?

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: I’ll tell you later, I’m afraid I must get back to grinding.

 

She hesitated a bit before sending her next message.

 

[10 Cler.] Cavendish: See you around?

 

[181 Summ.] akko: yes, definitely!!! :)) and that is okay, i understand

 

[181 Summ.] akko: bye bye!!

 

Diana felt a wave of relief and happiness wash over her at those words. Despite her former opinion on the other person, their cheerful personality and way of speaking made her feel warm. Even if they were a confusing case, Diana felt they definitely wouldn’t be a bad companion for a video game.

 

Re-adjusting her hand onto her mouse and the other into the wasd keys, she takes a step forward but a new window pops up into her view.

 

“Summoner akko has added you as a friend. Accept?”

 

And with a smile tugging at her lips, she clicked the confirm button.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hyello peeps, sorry for the delay but here's chapter 2 :> ill add some explanation to mmorpg lingo and any foreign language use at the end, and know that lowercase 'akko' in descriptions is intentional cause that's how the username looks. enjoy!!! <3

Diana rolled her shoulders back with a few pops, shifting in her desk chair. She was tuckered out for the day, she got some more grinding done - level 57 for the second day in wasn’t too bad for her standards.

She put her last point in her main attacking spell - no need to max* healing as she was going solo for now. She returned to the town and put a few things away to storage, mainly crafting and upgrading materials. She was all set to log off, eyeing her clock which told her it was nearing 1 am, when she heard the familiar tone of a message in-game.

She felt her chest tighten as she was woken up by the sound - it didn’t register as a message in her tired mind at first. Her eyes widened as she found the message came from akko, her possible game partner, and she had no idea why, but the idea of staying up some more seemed very appealing, thoughts of her warm comfy bed forgotten.

[182 Summ.] akko: sup cav!! (＾∇＾)

Diana’s eyes drifted to the emoji and couldn’t help but remark,

[57 Cler.] Cavendish: That face is adorable. Also, hello.

Something wasn’t right though.

[57 Cler.] Cavendish: Wait, cav?

[182 Summ.] akko: yup!! that’s your nickname now! i hope you like it :D

Diana chuckled. The nickname was so simple and easy to come up with, but it was so different - nobody had thought of using a cute name for someone like her. Usually it would be a sarcastic ‘Princess’, or an affectionate ‘Ice Queen’. If the other person was feeling particularly snarky, it could also be a ‘Bossy Bitch’.

[57 Cler.] Cavendish: Thanks, I like it actually.

With that message, she was out of topic to talk about, or at least that she felt they could talk about. Luckily, the other player had no qualms about chattering,

[182 Summ.] akko: im glad!!

[182 Summ.] akko: so, how was your day?

“They sure are friendly,” mused Diana.

[57 Cler.] Cavendish: Alright. I was thinking of going to bed soon.

_Or at least I was until you popped up_.

After sending her message, she realised - the other player was from Japan, and it must be pretty early for them. She still wasn’t sure of the timezone, so she decided it didn’t hurt to ask,

[57 Cler.] Cavendish: What time is it for you right now?

[182 Summ.] akko: oh, sleep tight then!!

[182 Summ.] akko: it is currently 8:54!!! im very sleepy

To emphasise her point, akko made her character do the yawn emote, and it was only then that Diana realised the other player came to her map. _As expected of the expert time waster, I guess._

Diana, with her no longer feeling tired, decided she should at least do something productive.

[57 Cler.] Cavendish: I’m going to do the job dungeon.

The job dungeon was next on her agenda - it was required to clear to unlock new skills, plus it dropped some nice equipment. She was planning on clearing it tomorrow, but seeing as she was feeling energised now, she decided to just get it over and done with before bed.

[182 Summ.] akko: huh? i thought you were heading to bed?

[182 Summ.] akko: it is pretty long

Diana felt herself brighten up at the other player’s concern.

[57 Cler.] Cavendish: I’m no longer tired. It’s fine.

She turned off the messenger window and summoned her white horse mount for the short journey there, but a message in general chat stopped her.

All: akko: wait! i’ll carry you! :>

Diana smiled upon the suggestion - it was quite thoughtful, and she would be able to go to sleep earlier. Surely, with their supposedly crazy dps*, akko could oneshot the boss, while she would have to kite* it around for a few minutes.

All: Cavendish: That’s very kind of you, thank you. Let’s go?

All: akko: before that do you have a discord? it might make things easier :>

Diana felt her heart stop in her chest, and felt a weird sense of anxiety shoot through her, yet she still felt content. Was she excited about this? Why? It was a simple voice call, they were common for the style of play she preferred, and allowed quick communication and fluid gameplay. She followed that logical thought and was able to reply,

All: Cavendish: Sure, I’m down. I’ll PM you with my tag.

Once Diana sent akko her tag through private messaging, she sat back in her chair and waited for the friend request to come her way. She took in a few deeper breaths to try and calm herself.

“Calm down, Diana. It’s just a simple call.” she told herself.

Although now that she thought about it, she would probably find out if she was being catfished or not, which she realised she didn’t care about anymore - she never asked after all, and it would make for an interesting situation.

Okay, maybe she cared a little bit; maybe she hoped for them to be a girl just a tiny bit.

She noticed the red alert by the friend tab, and added back the other player.

Whose nickname was “fidgetspinnerpussybomber69”.

As she hesitantly added them to her friend list, she typed out her thoughts in the DM window to akko.

Cavendish: You know what, I’m not even going to ask.

fidgetspinnerpussybomber69: :^)

Cavendish: Yeah, same.

fidgetspinnerpussybomber69: akko likes you, don’t blow it dude

That message took Diana aback so much she had the biggest urge to stand up from her chair and leave the room. Firstly, this meant the other person wasn’t akko. She was kinda relieved that the other player didn’t have their username set to… that, as offputtingly funny as it was, but that brought her to the next point. Who was this person? How did they have her Discord tag? And why were they being so teasing about… liking someone?

Cavendish: I beg your pardon? Who are you?

fidgetspinnerpussybomber69: just a wild meme passing through

fidgetspinnerpussybomber69: your girlfriend is waiting :^)

Diana’s face flared up at that statement. She could feel her cheeks burning up, spreading to her ears and her neck. How dare this person tease her like this? She could understand a friend maybe, but she didn’t know them, and she hoped they didn’t know her. Was this some kind of joke? Did they know more about her and were hunting her down through the game?

She snapped out of her thoughts and the message made her look back at her friend request tab, and she got a certain sense of ease when she saw a picture of a white bunny with black tipped ears and a name tag of “アッコ” before her eyes. She had no idea what the characters meant, but she figured she’d ask later.

Feeling herself calmer, but still a bit wary, she accepted the request.

Cavendish: Explain.

アッコ: huh?

アッコ: oh did amanda message you?

Cavendish: Assuming that’s “fidgetspinnerpussybomber69”, yes.

アッコ: ah sorry please forgive her!!! she doesn’t mean anything she says nearly ever!!

Diana felt slightly relieved at that, but still, was confused as to how this Amanda could reach her.

Cavendish: How did she get my tag anyways?

アッコ: oh um i may have pasted it to her accidentally instead of in the add box thing

Diana slammed her head against her desk loudly. Of course. Only a fool like akko would have the capacity to not just click off the friend request pop-up, but to also click back to their friend’s tab and paste in Diana’s tag.

Reeling back, and slightly wincing in pain, she sighed and thought about the situation. What an interesting friend does akko have. But this means that akko has been talking to Amanda about her. Why? Did they… really ‘like’ her?

She shook her head. No, that’s completely impossible and illogical. They’ve talked only a handful of times, and have known eachother for only about two days - they have barely had any experiences together. That’s completely ridiculous and must be Amanda just… memeing around. Akko simply told Amanda about her, that’s what happened, nothing else.

アッコ: please don’t be mad!!! i swear it wasn’t on purpose!!! :(( if she btohers you ill tell her off

アッコ: bothers*

アッコ: you still up for that carry and call? (´・∀・｀)

Diana chuckled at the cute emoji, and appreciated their concern over her.

Cavendish: It’s fine, I can deal with her. Also, yes. :)

There, she sent an emoji back to show her appreciation. And excitement for the call. Was it too much?

She was answered by the incoming call sound, and her breathing quickened as she realised that yes, it’s happening. Trying to calm herself, she slid over her mouse to the green button.

“Oh my gosh you sent an emoji!” was what blared in her ears the second she picked up, and she immediately went to turn her sound down. As her mind registered the voice though, she froze.

Akko had an unbelievably cheery, excited, sweet voice with a hint of an accent.

And Diana’s mind just stopped.

“So hi! You ready to get carried?” akko said, and all that Diana got was confidence, looking to impress, and just positivity. She was taken aback by how cheerful one person could be.

“H-hello,” Diana choked out. Damn it why is my voice fucked, “Y-yeah sure, let’s go.”

“Woah!” akko gasped. “Your voice is so pretty! You have the accent!”

Diana realised akko was talking about The Famed British Accent, even though she herself never saw the appeal - it was just how she and the people around her talked, nothing really special there. Also, the one with the pretty voice called her voice pretty - she had to contain a yelp.

“C-come on, akko. It is pretty late here.” Diana tried to keep her voice even.

“Oh right! Sure sure, coming.” akko responded.

The two made their way to the dungeon - the area was a rocky, dry desert full of lizard-like monsters and huge clawed spiders, and a sandy mountain could be spotted to their left.

While they were walking in mostly silence, Diana remembered akko’s Discord name.

“Akko?” she asked.

“何*? Oh no, um, what is it?” akko fumbled with her words, which Diana couldn’t help but find adorable.

“What does your Discord name mean?”

“It just means “Akko” in Japanese!” akko cheerfully replied.

“Oh, that explains it.”

“Yeah, how about you? Does Cavendish mean something?”

“It’s just…” Diana didn’t know whether to reveal personal information just yet, “A name.”

“It’s super cool!”

Diana blushed, it was just her family name, which she decided to keep as her online name. It wasn’t that big of a deal, yet with akko’s praise, she felt like she had the best name in the game, heck, in the world even.

“Thank you.” She muttered, and she really meant it.

“No problemo! Oh look, we’re here!”

Diana didn’t notice that they did arrive to their destination, and that she was still pressing the w key on her keyboard, and that her character was running into the wall on horseback, staying in one place but the animation still running.

“Right. We have to make a party*, I’ll invite you.” Diana said.

“Sure~” akko sang.

Diana added akko to a party, and giggled as she was met by a “wooh, it’s the Cavendish Support Group!”

“Is it trademarked?” Diana joked.

“™, ™.” akko replied right back, and her laugh sounded like the lightest chimes floating in the wind, making the blonde feel warm and happy.

“Alright, we should get this done with quick.” Diana remarked.

“There’s nothing that can stop us!” akko laughed. “Let’s go in, Cav.”

With akko’s positivity and confidence, she really felt they could take anything on, and as she loaded them into the dungeon map, she thought that this is it, this is the person that she can play the game with. She hoped akko would stick around, and that together they could lead the way through huge raids* and make their way up in the ladder*.

“Yeooo, let’s go!” akko yelled, and Diana could hear her smile through her voice.

“Yeah!” Diana gave a quieter shout of her own, not really caring about waking the neighbours at that point.

They made their way through the dungeon, which was structured like a cave, with small rooms at the sides of the main tunnel and a big room at the end - probably where the boss lay. For her quest, Diana had to defeat the boss, but it didn’t spawn unless all of the rooms were cleared.

The duo got through the rooms splendidly, akko diving in headfirst and bursting the enemies before their attacks even started. Diana had to admit, the Summoner class looked very powerful and flashy, and fit the other girl very well - akko had a way of capturing attention, almost like a stage performer. She was something Diana felt she needed to look at, not just out of concern with her clumsiness (which showed in her lack of combo mechanics), but also because akko seemed so confident and her movements were so energetic and colourful.

They were on the last room, and Diana once more uttered a small ‘good job’ as they left for the final boss. Akko replied with a cute ‘thanks!’ and Diana was just able to imagine the emoji the other player would use.

Coming up next was a huge lizard boss with some sort of weird time and space manipulation magic - able to disappear at any time it wanted as long as it could move, and could appear back anywhere in the room with a chunk of restored health. Truly a nuisance, but as long as akko could burst it, there should be no problem.

“You ready, Cavvy?” akko cheered.

“Let’s go, akko.” Diana replied.

The two made their way into the boss chamber, and Diana set the room up with a healing spell, in case akko couldn’t burst the boss and had to endure it’s hard hitting attacks for a bit. Diana stayed back at the entrance of the room, remembering that the boss had a harsh entrance that oneshot everything in the middle area, regardless of level, hp or defense.

But she realised akko didn’t remember that as she saw her dashing around the room in circles, seemingly enjoying herself at the empty space.

“Wait, akko, get away from there!” Diana warned.

“Huh?” akko stopped her movements in confusion, but stayed in the middle of the room.

“Just get ou-” Diana was cut off by the loud crash of the boss falling to the floor, and looking closer, of course akko was dead. “I can’t believe you, you didn’t remember about this?”

“Ah, um, well…” akko let out sheepishly. “I guess I kinda forgot…”

“I guess that’s fine.” Diana sighed. “Just go and revive.”

When she didn’t get a response, Diana feared the worst.

“Are you serious?” Diana snapped tiredly.

“Well, I forgot to buy the revival feathers!” Akko whined. “I’m sorry Cav, forgive me pleaseee!”

“If only I had put points into the healing tree, I’d be able to revive you…”

“It’s not your fault anyways, it’s mine!” Akko yelled. “I can carry you tomorrow? This time I won’t mess up!”

Diana was happy that akko knew she was at fault, but didn’t want her taking all of the blame - she could’ve reminded her earlier. She was also touched that akko seemed to care a lot about helping her out and trying to make up for their lost time.

“I wouldn’t mind that, thank you.” Diana said sincerely. “I guess it’s time to leave?”

“Yeah, let’s get outta here.”

Akko was able to press the ‘return to town’ button presented to her at death, but Diana used a teleportation scroll, not wanting to waste the durability* on her items. Once the two were back in the town they met up in, they sat in the silence - the game sounds of soft music and the aesthetic of a desert town being strangely, but welcomely comforting. They wordlessly moved together to some rickety chairs under a torn up marquee and used the sitting function, but as they comfortably sat there, Diana felt herself grow more tired, and began to doze off.

And snore.

Akko seemed to realise this as she heard soft snores coming in through her headset, and felt guilty that she made the other player stay up for nothing. She decided her game partner needed to move to the bed, so she tried waking her up with a soft ‘psst Cav’ but it didn’t work.

After a few softer tries, she decided she needed to be a bit louder, but didn’t want to startle her friend. And when she ended up letting out a ‘Cavendish!’ that was much louder than she wanted it to be, her shout immediately woke up the blonde and made her give out a small yelp.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry! I tried to be quieter, I’m sorry Cav!” akko panicked in a disoriented Diana’s ears, and the latter looked around her room sleepily, the glare of her monitor being a bit too bright to look at. “You just needed to wake up, you should go to bed, sorry…”

“...It’s okay,” Diana replied slowly, deciding that yeah, sleep was a good idea. Glancing upon the clock, she found it was 2:30 am for her, and the idea of sleep seemed even more appealing now. “I’m going off now, thanks for everything, bye, goodnight.”

Her slurred voice didn’t seem all that sincere, but she swore she meant it. She heard akko reply back a still worried ‘night!’ and she realised that akko still had a full day ahead of her, but her mind didn’t stay too long on the thought as she shut off her computer with the button on the box, not bothering to go through the process of shutting everything off.

Diana’s room was enveloped by a very quiet silence as her fans died down, and she settled into bed quickly, having brushed her teeth beforehand.  
She snuggled into her blankets and let herself sleep properly, dreaming about a silly bunny knight and a royal blonde princess.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> max - putting all your points that you get through leveling up into a certain skill/skill tree  
> dps - damage per second output, the higher the better  
> kite - moving back/to the side while attacking, also known as strafing i think?  
> 何 - nani; what/what is it?  
> party - group of people, can share experience and currency gained, needed to enter a raid  
> raid - large group of people attacking a powerful boss' dungeon, basically. shouldn't be able to do them alone  
> ladder - ranking  
> durability - a stat on equipment that decreases with use and nearly breaks it upon death, can be restored at a blacksmith. 0 durability - lose all your damage + defense


End file.
